Silence Of The Bell Book Review

The Short Version: If you enjoy box turtles you'll
probably like all the information the author shares about them in this short
book.

Disclosure: Here at CowboyWay.com we purchased
"Silence Of The Bell" with our own money. The opinions expressed here are
our own.

Below: Book cover of "Silence Of The Bell" by Anne
Allbright Smith

Review

This is a small (99 pages) paperback book self-published by the author,
Anne Allbright Smith. It's about Ms. Smith's experience tracking and
monitoring box turtles and is likely to have a limited appeal.

Even so, we have to say we are box turtle fans and therefore enjoyed the
book. It shares the experiences of the author after she and her husband
purchased a 65-acre piece of old farmland in New York state. Ms. Smith
became captivated by the box turtles she found on her property but had
difficulty finding them on her own due to the grass, brush, and woods. She
soon trained her two Australian cattle dogs, Anzac and Diggy, to find them
for her. The book gets its name from the bell she kept on each of the dog's
collars: Following the dogs across her property she couldn't always see
them, but she could still hear their bells as they searched for turtles. If
one of the bells went silent she knew that dog was sitting patiently by a
turtle it had found, waiting for her to catch up.

Ms. Smith kept an extensive journal of the turtles she found (80+ in all
over several years time) and when and where she found them. Not wanting to
mark them, she identified individuals by photographs she took of their
shells (each pattern on a box turtle's shell is unique). Over time she met
other turtle enthusiasts, and her personal journal became genuine research
as she graduated into also monitoring some of the turtles through electronic tracking and
became more absorbed into understanding the turtles and their habitat.

The book contains a great deal of information about box turtles, but
still keeps a casual, conversational tone when you're reading it. If you
have ever enjoyed that turtle in your yard, or have been curious about it,
this short, easy-to-read book may be for you.

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